Jhereg
The House of the Jhereg is one of the seventeen Great Houses of the Dragaeran Empire. The Jhereg Organization, recently also known as the Right Hand of the Jhereg, is the authority of the House. It is lead by the Jhereg Council, of which there are usually around five members who are the most powerful Jhereg in the Empire. The Organization engages in criminal activities of various kinds, reflecting the greed and opportunism of the House; it's the main criminal organization around. The only other known organization in the House is the Left Hand of the Jhereg. A member of House Jhereg doesn't need to be part of an organization. House Jhereg regulates almost all criminal activity in the Empire. Each area where Organization businesses operate falls under the authority of a certain "boss" who owes part of his profit to his superior boss, which eventually ends up in the pockets of the Jhereg Council. Organization businesses are usually one of the following: untaxed gambling, unlicensed brothels, dealing in stolen merchandise and offering loans at illegal rates. 90% of Jhereg activity is in the capital city of Adrilankha. The best thieves and assasins in the Empire reside in the Right Hand of the Jhereg. The two most reliable forces in the Jhereg are money and skill. An individual who posseses such qualities and enough nerve to secure a territory is usually able to rise in the Organization. Occasionally, different bosses within the Jhereg may discover a conflict of interest and fight each other about it. Jhereg wars are normally very violent in various ways, muffled, include several assasinations and could last many months. The idea is to take over the opponent's territory and increase profit and reputation. In the Organization, people commonly speak "Jhereg slang" which contains unique terminology (e.g. "neighbourhood" means area; "work" means assasination; "wizard" means someone especially good at a particular job) and is often metaphorical and indirect. This is frequently practiced in meetings between Jhereg bosses. History House Jhereg is the only House to come from a "tribe" or "group" originally independent of the collection of Dragaeran tribes which later formed the Empire. Kieron the Conqueror had gathered together a "Tribe of All Tribes" by uniting fifteen of the most powerful tribes (from an estimated thirty-one) to unite Dragaerans, then fight against the Easterners. The Jhereg started when Kieron's brother, Dolivar, betrayed the Tribe of the Dragon then was tortured and expelled from it. Dolivar visited the leaders of several tribes excluded from Kieron's group and founded a succesful tribe of his own, primarily by killing the leaders who refused. The group jokingly called themselves the "Tribe of the Jhereg"; they survived by ravaging other tribes, not unlike the jhereg itself. At some point before the war Kieron and Dolivar negotiated an agreement which gave Dolivar's group the right to a permanent place in the future Empire if the Easterners were defeated. In return the "Tribe of the Jhereg" acted effectively as spies and saboteurs against the enemy. After victory against the Easterners, the strain of keeping the agreement later caused Kieron's death at the hands of Lyorn warriors who were unsympathetic to the idea of a House of Jhereg. Their actions appear to have fallen short of actually preventing the Jhereg from attaining Imperial status, though it is likely they tried. As a result of their mixed biological background, Jhereg do not have a unique phenome, strictly speaking. However, their genetic characteristics have developed through time to be identified as specific to the House. It is revealed in several places, most notably Orca, that the Empire and House Jhereg are mutually dependent in several ways. Loansharking, gambling, and brothel-running by Jhereg are all essential parts of the Empire's economy, and secret payoffs between Organization figures and Imperial law-enforcement are not only present at high and low ranks, but essential for trade and smooth functioning of the Empire. House Characteristics *House colors: black & grey *Concept: greed & opportunism *Personality: **devious **opportunistic **make a point of displaying more of an interest in money than noble causes *Physical traits: **angular face, generally **sharp facial features, generally **often portray at least a single trait, or a combination of traits, characteristic of other Houses. *Social status: Noble *Key to the Paths of the Dead: pendant with stylized jhereg Notable Jhereg *Dolivar *Vladimir Taltos *The Demon *Terion *Mellar *Laris *Nielar *Melestav *Sticks *Glowbug *Varg *Temek *"Smiley" (See also Category:Jhereg) Rarely Notable Jhereg *Kragar Category:Dragaeran Houses